Talk:QFG Omnipedia:Canon Policy
This wiki is treating authorized guide as "canon" since it was officially published and endorsed by Sierra On-line when it existed (now currently owned by Activision Blizzard). However, it can be argued that it exists in a kind of grey area of secondary "quasi"-canon, official spinoff material. I'm personally not a big fan of the term canon, since the Sierra never specifically set about a bible as to what is and isn't part of the "canon" Quest for Glory experience. They endorsed the games and the officially authorized published material equally back in the day. Sierra also authorized and published similar books for King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and even Leisure Suit Larry. However, the Authorized Guide may not have been entirely endorsed by the designers of the game. From what I understand Corey Cole had little input into it, it was apparently co-written by Paula Spiese and Lori Ann Cole. Most of Aidendale's background and his name were apparently creations of Paula Spiese (and had nothing to do with Lori and Corey Cole). So basically while it might have been considered an official ("canon" in the loose sense of the word) tie-in by Sierra On-line (the legal owner of Quest for Glory series) back in the day. It wasn't really considered "canon" by the game designers, or at least Corey Cole (from what I understand). :"And by the way, mentions of "Devon Aidendale" and Willowsby (or Willowdale or whatever the name was) drive me crazy. Devon was just the name Paula Spiese chose for her QG hero, and she used him in the strategy guide she co-wrote with Lori. Those names have no "official place in the canon", except of course they've been enshrined on Wikipedia because they're part of a published book." :"We did not name the hero, nor his starting village, for a reason. We wanted every player to imagine their own hero's background so that the player would really become a part of the story. So it's frustrating when I see other people adopt Paula's fantasy as their own. Still, if that makes the game more fun for you, go with it!"http://www.theschoolforheroes.com/studentcenter/topic.php?id=152 Note, that this has been sort of the case with certain aspects of King's Quest Companion and Space Quest Companion as well. In as much that sometimes the books created details that the games designer/producer may not have personally had, or were at odds with details given in the game or manuals. Some examples include differences in the relationship of Daventry to earth (in earth's past or in a parallel universe), Hagatha related to Manannan and Mordack, the relation between Sludge and Slash Vohaul (brothers or clones of each other), or names/gender of minor characters (ex. Monolith Burger Employee in SQ3), Derek's opinon of the events of KQ7. In some cases details invented in the books were incorporated by other designers into the games. In case of King's Quest, Jane Jenson, Lorelei Shannon, and others including details from King's Quest Companion such as Hagatha's familial relationship to Mordack and Mannannan included in King's Questions (though Roberta herself may not have held the same belief), or the inclusion of Derek Karlavaegan into KQ6 manual, or the inclusion of Lake Maylie into the official KQ6 Hintbook. Likewise, another related grey area would be how Lori and Corey Cole have gone onto create extensions to the Glorianna universe as a text based Online RPG, "The Famous Adventurer's School for Heroes" by Transolar games. This spin-off game adds some material and is tied into the Glorianna universe, which may be consider part of Lori and Corey Cole's personal view of canon. However, it is not actually endorsed or owned by the former Sierra, now Activision. So thus it isn't official in the sense of who owns the IP (so it can't be "officially" canon). Lori and Corey Cole do not seem to have the rights to actually use the Quest for Glory IP name, and references to the universe are somewhat implied but not specific. This is likely to avoid copyright issues. The game seems to be set on our world anyways (with interactions with Gloriana), with the exception of the use of the Famous Adventurer character, and Silmaria (and references to a few other locations). They are also technically not making a profit off of it, and there is little chance that it will compete with Activision (due to the nature of the project, its not a video game). Again that game is a sort of grey area, since School for Heroes isn't owned or endorsed by current owners of the official Quest for Glory IP (Activision). It is better to treat it as a sort of unofficial 'spiritual sequel' (though it blurs the lines a bit) set in its own Alternate Canon from the original series. In anycase this website is devoted more to the official Sierra's Quest for Glory franchise back in its heyday than fan/unofficial/spiritual spinoffs.Baggins 21:44, February 21, 2010 (UTC) New Comments by Corey "Our main objection to the Spiese book is that the Quest for Glory hero is supposed to be a reflection of the player. When Paula named her hero as Devon Aidendale, that became canon. We would have preferred he remain simply The Hero. But that's a trivial quibble."-Corey Colehttp://www.hero-u.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=292&p=2645#p2645